Three Post Apocalyptic Favorite Influences For Your Old School Mutant Future Game

With all things retro 70s science fiction here are three of my all time favorites for your Thursday morning. First up is Logan's Run with all of its Runner and Sand man weirdness. This movie is great for isolated one shots. 

Damnation Alley is just good old fashioned guilty pleasure fun and runs like a Swiss Cheese plot driven  weirdness of post apocalyptic goodness. This is a great set up for a cross country tour of your favorite post apocalyptic world. I've used this same plot countless times to introduce a campaign world and no one's caught on yet. 

 The final product in the post apocalyptic is one from 1974 called Planet Earth. A Gene Roddenberry effort this was one of his unsold pilots from the so called PAX trilogy. This is perhaps one of the best of the three. 

The Space 1970 blog has an excellent overview of the entire Pax Trilogy and all of them are available on DVD. If you want to know more Just take a look right over Here

The mutant Kreegs from the Planet Earth movie have made appearances in a few Gamma World Games and some other Mutant Future games. Here's a sample of this mutant race from the mind of Roddenberry. Anyhow this is just a quick and dirty look over of a few of the post apocalyptic goodness. I'll be taking a much closer look at the PaX trilogy and its Star Trek and Logan Run roots over the weekend. If  we all survive the Aztec Apocalypse! 

Storage 24 Trailer - Sci fi Horror Movie

Are we finally done with the remakes, redoes, and do overs for movies! There are at least four or more movies we've seen that have been innoviative and very exciting as a science fiction/horror/fantasy geek. So here we've got Storage 24 a movie that would make an excellent Delta Green concept and adventure.
Here's the synopsis:
 London is in chaos. A military cargo plane has crashed leaving its highly classified contents strewn across the city. Completely unaware London is in lockdown, Charlie (Noel Clarke) and Shelley (Antonia Campbell-Hughes), accompanied by best friends Mark (Colin O'Donoghue) and Nikki (Laura Haddock), are at Storage 24 dividing up their possessions after a recent break-up. Suddenly, the power goes off. Trapped in a dark maze of endless corridors, a mystery predator is hunting them one by one. In a place designed to keep things in, how do you get out?
  The premises is original and kinda cool but the best part the special effects are practical and so are the kills and it shows.  Anyway take a look but be warned there's guts, gore, and more. 

1d20 Random Planar Demon Table For Your Old School Space Opera

Descending from the depths of the Outer Darkness into the spaces and curved time of our reality come the planar demons. Beings from the vilest depths beyond human imagination and the pale of mankind. These inimical creatures are born in the cold depths of nameless Hells between the cold dead stars themselves to feast on the souls of mankind. 

These beings build temporary bodies for themselves from the dreams, passions, and left over nightmares of mankind lying around in the void between the dead stars of space. The tendrils, legs, and tentacles all await to tear the soul of fools and adventurers.

Type: Other
 Armor Class:-2 (21)
Hit Dice:12
Attacks: Tendril 3d6+Death
Saving Throw :3 
Special : Annihilate Non living Matter 
Move: 12 Ground/18 
Challenge level: 15/2,900 

1. Bbbolli- This creature feeds on the eyes of dead dreamers and fortells the near death of kings and royalty. 
2. Bharsibhom- He Of The Gibbering Stars knows of alien treasures and forgotten demonic crypts. Willing to share his forbidden knowledge for a high price 
3. De-no - The made Engineer of Flesh Able to build 1d4 infernal devices of the patron's choose from the slain carcasses of his enemies
4. Enyogot The Guttural Maw - Able to devour any indesresion or even the dreams of a mad man. It is said that his innards are event horizen to another plane. 
5. G'chomamich Born in the womb of a dying star this being will give 1d4 3rd level spells for the price of one's temporary sanity as it whispers the secrets of the damned and dying 
6. Han'losok The Mad Teleporter - This being breaks down reality itself as it teleports without error each round. Able to make 1d10 teleport attacks per day day. Called upon for the secrets of energy to matter. 
7. Harskeki-zan The Secret Dreamer - Knows the darkest PC's secrets and wants which it will share for a small price. A very reviled creature even among its own kind. 
8. Keistsiso The Blood That Does Not Flow - Able to birth any creature into a vampiric clone of itself.  Its price is a pint of its masters blood. Said to spread a demonic taint 
9. Mmmeighar The Laughter That Will Not Stop - This comedic 10th level assassin and joker will tell the secrets of died universes in riddles that drive sane men mad. 
10. N'zathushagn The Miniture Cold Hell - A 7 hit point ice elemental with the heart of a demon. This is the storm of the coldest hell that sucks all into itself. Always hungry for the blood of the innocent to freeze. Often called in the construction of certain magic or psychic items of  a forbidden nature 
11. Phathotar The Mockery Without End - This being is summoned to bind hated major devils and demons by revealing their secret names through torture and its sarcastic reversals. A master torturer and wordsmith of the lowest order 
12. Phoa-ata The Feeder of Hate - A demonic void of entropic energy and nothingness that feeds on all even beings from the entropic planes themselves. The ultimate parasite of reality. 
13. Stek-schalo The Gate of Hyperspace and Time. This is the guardian of forbidden time travel and the judgements of paradox. This being will aid any time traveler in the forbidden secrets of time reverses and pardoxes. Always willing to help for a sample of the caller's life forces and 1d4 years of their lives. 
14. Sti'pha The Gate of Life And Death - This being is able to add 1d8 years of misery to its caller's life. This being is often called to stall a judgement for an infernal contract. These forbidden years are nothing more then living hells themselves and the sweet suffering of the target feeds this monster. 
15. Tlaarastigug The Dream without End - This monster wraps the caller within its soiled embrace of dreams and false fantasies. The caller can not distinguish one reality from another as he is slowly digested within the folds of the beast. A disgusting monster 
16. Ugot - The Uncaring One - This is the unstop able tide, the ever present guardian, the Uncaring One will create 1d20 duplicates of itself and serve its master at every task commanded. It cares nothing for the task because each time it is summoned more of its life force infects the various planes like a demonic disease of reality 
17. Ugothig That Which Abides - This is the tainted life. This being will sprout 1d10 mutated hybrids of itself. These will each have 1d4 mutations each that will spawn and rape anything near by and create more twisted demonic life. This being is called as weapon of mass destruction 
18. Yibhuacy - The White One - This giant demonic being is an engine of pure destruction. A 10 hit point monster that simply destroys everything in its path. The monster's acidic touch does 1d6 points of damage to mostly everything. Magic items do get a save. The tears of an innocent child will banish it back to its nether hell pocket dimensional prison 
19. Yuathuathan - The Mad Maker -This mechanical machine of the lowest hell will simply manufacture more of its 7 hit point self and devour everything around it to create more of itself. Unless The Great Command is given then this being will assemble itself into the Great Engine and begin to devide the universal formula of Life. Anyone listening will gain 1d4 points of wisdom but will lose the ability to speak normal words. Often called upon to confuse entire nations. This being may only be banished by a gift of love and nature. 
20. Yuathursi The Reality Breaker - This being is used as a lever between the planes themselves. This stick like figure flows between planes and will reveal hidden routes between the hells  and heavens of the insane and crazy ones. Only the tears of a virgin's hate may banish it. It will reveal the seven secret spells of Zarlon to the caller but at a terrible price.  

1d20 Random Magical Sacrificial Knives For Your Old School Horror Campaigns On The Dark Corner Blog

1d20 Random Magical Sacrificial Knives For Your Old School Horror Campaigns right over HERE

The Optimum And Terra Prime Factions For Stars Without Number

Colonel Phillip Green was a major historical figure in the annals of Terran history and responsible for the deaths of countless millions of human beings. Green was part of a eugenics movement that slowly came to power during WW III  and Green was a leader of a major faction during the war; the group's actions directly led to 37 million deaths.Green killed hundreds of thousands of victims of radiation poisoning in order to prevent their future mutant offspring from contaminating the human genome. Despite Green's claims that the operation was "humanitarian," this eugenicist action was labeled as genocidal by future historians.
 Green as the leader of a Nazi-like organization called the Optimum Movement in the mid-21st century. In this, the Optimum slowly took power throughout the Western world, and was the ultimate cause of World War III.Green was fond of turning against his own allies whenever it suited him, and that he tended to strike at his enemies in the midst of conducting treaty negotiations.

 The Optimum Way 
Green was fond of spouting his Optimum Way dogma that still to this day is used by the followers of this sad relic of history. 

"Overwhelm and devastate."

"We must reject the impure and cast it out."

"This is not a time for timidity and second guessing. We cannot afford to doubt ourselves."

"To be human is to be pure."

"I have no quarrel with you, any more than you have with me!" (Excalbian duplicate)

"Men don't talk peace unless they're ready to back it up with war." (Excalbian duplicate)

"History tends to exaggerate." (Excalbian duplicate)

The Optimum Movement advocated the human being to the optimum efficiency and genetic purity of the species. There was no room in the genome for any abnormality nor mutation. Mankind was the ultimate expression of this and only the strongest and fittest were destined to rule.
Mutation would not be tolerated. 

Terra Prime

"A new era is at hand...an era that will expose the concept of inter-species unity as an absolute and vicious lie. An era that will witness the advent of a human-centric consciousness that will place our world before all others. As of this moment mankind casts off the shackles of alien interference and now determines its own fate. Terra Prime...forever."

- John Frederick Paxton, 2155

The direct descendants of The Optimum movement are the terrorists of Terra Prime which takes the xenophobic ideals of the first and applies them to alien/human relations. The movement gained ground in 2155 and continues to be a threat. They believe that Earth should be first in all of its dealings, relations, and business with all other intergalactic species. They are dedicated to the expulsion of all aliens from the Sol solar system and the return of Earth to the hands of its people. Namely themselves and their followers who can lead the Earth into a brighter more peaceful golden era of galactic politics.
 At its core both of these factions mirror the ideals of a standard eugenics cult with a higher military aspect. There have been several reports of clones of  Colonel Green involved in two separate terrorist bombings. 

John Paxton serving four consecutive life sentences details right over HERE
The Optimum And Terra Prime Factions 

Attributes: Forces 5 Cunning 5 Wealth 6 

Hit points 30 

Assets : Venture Capital/Wealth 6 Demagogue/Cunning 7 Laboratory Wealth 4 

Geningeered Slaves/Force 3

The Count Down To The End! The End of Larry Elmore's Art Book Kickstarter

Yeah I'm a little late to this party but this is Larry Elmore we're talking about here. The grand master of science fiction and fantasy art work from now and the days of yore. He's been getting a monstrous kickstarter together for his work which spans over 40 years.
 This thing is going to massive and very impressive. The whole work is going to be over 304 pages plus. In his words
" I want to make available, through this project, the largest, most comprehensive collection of the very best of my art spanning my full 40 year career.  Many of the images I will include in this tome are being re-mastered using the latest digital technology from original film, for unprecedented quality, and several pieces have never before been published or rarely seen.  Interspersed among the images I will also offer you glimpses into my studio and creative process, including sketches and preliminaries, as well as share with you my autobiography, my artistic journey, and my stories.  I will start from my earliest childhood drawings, and together we will journey through my challenges breaking into the industry and frustrations with commercial art, through my years working in games and on novel covers and ultimately to my latest personal works.

This hardback book will be 9" x 12" and encompass 300+ pages.  Depending on your pledge amount you can own this book as a standard coffee-table hardback edition, or a deluxe leather-bound cover edition, as well as other bonuses, such as special prints, original hand-drawn sketches, or even the original painting used for the cover itself!  Most importantly, you are helping me realize my dream of bringing this volume to you, my fans.  Thank you in advance for your pledge!"

So to say I'm excited is pretty much an understatement. To say Mr. Elmore's art hasn't been an influence on my games is to deny the sun doesn't come up. But there is a cavot to this situation. You've only got thirteen more days to this great kick starter. There are a ton more details with this wonderful kick starter. Seriously I can't even begin to get into all the perks connected with this one. Go take a look for yourself right over HERE  

1d20 Random Where Does That Secret Door Lead Table Over At The Dark Corner Blog

1d20 Random Where Does That Secret Door Lead Table Over At The Dark Corner Blog right over Here

Sneak Peak Line Up For Gygax Magazine

A sneak peek into Gygax #1:
Len Lakofka - Leomund's Secure Shelter
Cosmology of Roleplaying Games
Tim Kask - Still Playing After All These Years
Ron Corn - The Ecology of the Banshee 
Roll20 - Virtual Tabletops
Ernie Gygax - The Gygax Family Storyteller
Ernie Gygax - Between the Dungeons
Dennis Sustare - Keeping Magic Magical
Cory Doctorow - DMing for Your Toddler
Steve Kenson - Great Power for Icons
Dennis Detwiller - Talents off the Front Line
Ethan Gilsdorf - Gaming Over the Decades
Michael Tresca - Adaption Decay
Kobold's Corner
An Adventure by Michael Curtis
Comics - Marvin the Mage
Comics - Phil Foglio - What's New with Phil and Dixie
Rich Burlew - Order of the Stick

 So here it is straight off the desk of Tim Kask, the line up for the first issue of Gygax magazine. The formula looks like a winner. Why? Because this looks like something we haven't seen in 16 years or so. The same good old fashioned articles that built a certain company into the power house that it was. This look very nice. I'm looking forward to this with baited breath. I'm hoping to get my hands on a review copy of this wonderful magazine. The fact is that its very nice to see where this is going to go. We need more gaming material for both the OSR and the general market. Maybe its time to start seeing some changes and this will be one small part of a brighter future for gaming.
You can get more information about the magazine by entering right over Here

1d20 Random Powers Of The Blood Basin Of R'othazortul

 The Blood Basin of R'othazortul travels throughout time and space. The object is of unknown origin but travels the planes of existence for good or ill. The thing will bestow a random ability if it is offered fresh flesh and blood. The thing exists with a very malignant intelligence and its cranky as well. Should it be offered a few drops of the user's blood the effects will last 1d4 hours. A pint might be a week or more. A pound of flesh and the hellish thing might make the power permanent.

 Then again there is a 60% chance that the artifact may not be in the mood. It confers its moods telepathically to those around it. The eyes glow with a bale fire greenish glow when it accepts a sacrifice.  Those who displease the artifact will receive a gout of yellow golden fire of the lowest hells that does 1d4 points of damage per round. The fires will slowly inch by inch cook the flesh from the bones of those it hits. The burns may only be healed by magic or psychic means.

1d20 Random Powers Of The Blood Basin Of R'othazortul

1. The basin increases each attribute for one hour by 1d4 points. The user's eyes glow red while under these effects 
2. The user is able to hear the language of birds and speak in the tongues of serpents for 1d3 hours 
3. The user can hear and see the movement of wind and the colours of hidden things. 
4. The user lusts for the blood of the living and his flesh crawls with the sleep of undeath for 1d4 days. There is a 60% of him becoming a mindless thing of hell. 
5. The user is blessed with 1d4 random mutations. These will reflect the inner being of the victim
6. The user becomes a vessel for a berserk spirit. The thing lusts for all the flesh of the living around it. 
7. The user becomes a vessel for a spirit of light from beyond the nearest star and will leave Earth for that place. Make a new character 
8. The user will begin to recite the poems of the dead in the voice of tombs. Those who record these voices will gain a beginning necromancer's insights into the greater beyond
9. The user can see and hear the winds and colour between the stars themselves. They must make a wisdom check or go insane temporarily with this burden of sanity 
10. The user gains a spirit or guardian angel of death itself that will claim his victims personally. The fool gains a train of ghosts who will follow and mock him for eternity 
11. The user gains 1d4 random psychic powers at the cost of one of his scents 
12. The user is controlled by a spirit from another plane at the start of each new moon and only the kiss from a blind princess who loves him will free him. 
13. The user is nothing but a vessel for a being from another world who will control his actions remotely with powerful magic. The user will gain randomly 1d4 powers beyond the pale of man for 1d3 minutes at a clip 
14. The user can see and hear the dead as they mutter curses at the living around them. The user may commune with the dead at the cost of a single die point of damage for each question asked but the dead love to talk to him 
15. The user becomes a ghost for 1d8 hours at a time and then randomly will become living again. There is a 40% chances of demons seeking the fool out to return him to the world of the dead 
16. The fool gains 1d4 random instabilities within his mind. There is a 20% chance each lunar cycle of another being assuming control of his body. The user will gain knowledge to repair energy weapons or to built one. There will be a complete and all consuming passion to do so. 
17. The user becomes a willing vessel for a demon from the Outer Darkness who will try to start his or her own cult based around themselves. 
18. The user becomes a murderer and a psychopathic version of themselves but they are devilishly clever. Able to heal almost any wound that they lay hands on. The monster will still try to kill anyone that crosses their path unless they make a wisdom check each full moon. 
19. The user will gain 1d4 random psychic powers at the cost of their fertility and sex. The psychic becomes nothing more then a vessel for this power and glows with an inner light of the mind. 
20. The user becomes a vessel for a higher purpose determined by the DM. This isn't the character though but a mirror image come to life that will do good in the characters name. Those whom he helps will seek the character out to do even greater deeds.
    Once the vessel is done it will randomly depart for another dimensional location and continue its choatic and disturbing mission of spreading grief and misery. This is an artifact with all of the minor powers and such as per Osric or The AD&D first edition  Dungeon Master's  guide. 

1d20 Random Alien Remains And Powers Table - For Your Old School Space Opera

1d20 Random Alien Remains And Powers Table

1.  The Skull of Angilurc- Grey Skull Highly psychic has  1d4 psychic abilities per day  and comes from Carcosa. Also cursed item and the skull's former owner was a priest of the old ones. 
2. The Remains of Arolurinima- A klingon skeleton that is still a 2nd level fighter. Was originally a 10th level but being dead has degraded his abilities somewhat. Will reanimate for 1d6 rounds. 
3. The Legs of Barori- The carpace of this insectoid is able to confer the abilities of a telepath for 1d8 days as long as the carpace is held. Considered a holy relic by the followers of Barori. They are still searching for them. 
4. The Baualath- This skull of an alien warlord will try to posess anyone picking it up. The possessed will try to contact the Baulath and begin their thousand year reign once again. 
5. The Dread Bavaegbaroth- This crisom thigh or leg bone is the remains of an alien lich able to confer wonderous powers upon the owner. As long as they carry it. Will grant a wish as long as they are carrying it. The thing weights 4 tons and is cursed. The remains will cause spontanious human conbusion in any human handling it. The item has been lost for 10,000 years
6. The Corpse of Cabavangur- This ancient mummy will act as an adviser to those who awaken him. The monster has the powers of a 4th level wizard and is well versed in galactic politics.  Very,very, well verse. 
7. The Chameturcha - These are the cutest decicated remains ever seen. The monsters will act as undead pets for 1d4 days then strike as 3 hit point, 7 armor class, 1d4 damage per strike level draining monsters. They're husks may be used to create 1d6 healing potions. 
8. The Golden Remains Of Egbaia- These beings bodies are created entirely from gold. They were almost hunted to extinction by a race of humanoid cyborgs. The remains are +2 to an attempt to attack such beings. Also worth 1.4 thousand galactic standard credits because of their purity. 
9. The Powder of The Ethabako- A psychic resource for these extinct people containing all of their power, culture, art, etc. The user may become a Follower of  The Ethabako and able to act as a 3rd level scribe of these forgotten people. This will vanish the moment the dust of the Ethabako is dropped. 
10. The Eyes of The Gori- The user is able to see into the higher dimensions when holding these eyes. The Gori had thousands of them. The user may also have access into forgotten psychic super science powers as well. DM discresion. 
11. THe Hands of Haglanitunaz- These hands belonged to an alien god 3 million years ago. Those who hold the remains are able to psychically heal wounds as per the cure light wounds spell. The wounds will appear on the user cosmetically and symbolically for 1d4 rounds after the healing. 
12. The Cask of Himil- The 3 inch tall casks are all that remains of this 3 billion year old insect people. Each cask has 2d6 psychic powers that will be accessable for 1d4 rounds each time the cask is held. The user will bleed from his eyes each time he accessses these powers and be at -3 for all skill related checks for 1d6 rounds after using the cask. Each cask has a shelf life of 1d3 weeks once a user begins using these powers. 
13. The Hmethmoturind - These are the sandstone like remains of the mighty giants known as the Hmethmoturind who sang the praises of life and love for 340 days each. Each time the remains are picked up the user is cursed to sing them continually. The user however has access to 4 million years worth of knowledge which will increase his wisdom score by 4 points of drive his ape brain mad with the knowledge unless a save vs wands is made. 
14. The power of The Kobam- These finger like tentacles each contain 1d4 spells. They must be used within 3 rounds or the tentacle will explode for 1d4 points of damage. Each tentacle is actually the brain of the Kobam itself. 
15. The Memories of Lrongila- These are actually the memories of the Lrongila sliced from their dead brain tissue. The user must burn the tissue to access the knowledge and suck up the fumes. The user's intelligence increases by 3 points temporarily but if the user does this more then once per day they will become a flesh eating Lrongila clone instead! Four uses be find only. 
16. The Rchmetha- These are the dead and dried tissues of the Rchmetha which if consumed will heal 1d4 points of damage. The entire remains must be consumed. The Rchmetha were 4 foot tall. One use per corpse. 
17. The Dust of Rthela- This dust is found in a furneral sack and will reveal any hidden dimensional or planar doors within 50 yards of the application. Consuming this dust will temporarily drive the user made for 1d4 rounds but the user will gain valuable insight into the nature of dimensional travel. 
18. The Warriors of Tulalrna- These 123 limbed dead warriors will reanimate as skeletons and will act as 3rd level warriors for the user. They are well versed in using energy weapons. They must consume fresh blood within 1d4 days after activation or return to the sleepless oblivion from whenence they came. 
19. The Mummies of Vagurchaugu- A small 4 foot tall mummy from Carcosa able to teach some of the magic of his people. The mummy is telepathic and may 40% try to take control of the user unless a save vs death is made. 
20. Vaimol- These reality bending power made psychopaths have been sealed in undeath. Do you dare awaken them? They have no powers or any the DM sees fit to use. 

The Island Of Terror On The Dark Corners Blog

 The Island of Terror 1966 On The Dark Corner Blog. You can read about it right over Here

SWN The Highway Men Campaign - Meeting With Rama Blues Part II

This past week I had all of my players and I really let go. The party was able to probe the inner levels of the mega-dungeon. 

The party is aboard a Rama style spacecraft/station that Apex Medical (Making A Better Future For All Man Kind). They've explored the ruined docking/spacecraft facility and have penetrated into the inner skin of the craft.

They came across several different facilities aboard the craft. Bio mechanicial factories. Weird ruins and several office and housing complexes. Plus an android factory where the various antagonists of the place are being created.

While taking a stroll through the facilities they learned of a moth balled section of the dungeon where several ships were in storage. The android factory really creeped some folks out. They sabotaged several systems and learned that Delos was subcontracting out some of their work to Apex medical who had taken over the various factories aboard the station/ship.

Most of the work was being done by other androids and a race of specially bred Apex mutantoids workers. Once a re-education center was wrecked by the party and a bit of damage by an android in power armor it was on to the Hanger/Storage section of the place.
There was already a party of salvagers already there. A group of Metaluna survivors were getting two ships operational.

The Metalunians were waiting for anyone aboard the station and had mutants awaiting anyone coming their way. The ships were already fitted with interoccitors and ready to go!

There were at least 6-8 mutants waiting for them! The players had tangled with these bastards before and have hated them ever since.

 There was another problem as well. The Metalunians had power armor/ space suits which they were using to outfit the ships. There was a specially out fitted interrocitor to keep the androids away from this section of the station.

The PCs were able to find a fusion/fuel cell being raided by the Metalunians for fuel for their stolen ships. Using a series of quick stealth rolls and various sneaking skill checks they placed a bomb with a 2 hour timer aboard the fuel cell.
They just made it to the storage section where they found a ship in mothballs.

This ship was equipped with a sublight and a hyperdrive. Minimum AI but it was ancient although still in production on certain Talon Worlds.  That's when a mutant got a PC. Taking a massive amount of damage. The party blasted the mutant to dust in quick order. Then a series of healing slap patches were applied to the PC. The PCs boarded the ship wounded in tow. They were able to out maneuver any problems or resistance and board  the ship.

They blasted out of there with moments to spare!

The party blasts off and crippled the station. So now they've got a group of very, very, pissed off Metalunians and their Mucloid employers after them! 

Meeting With Rama Blues Part II Notes 

There's a lot that happened during the four hours of play Thursday night. Your probably wondering why an Edmond Hamilton book is here. The game Thursday was partly influenced by the introduction of several Hamilton elements.  The Federation of Stars from City At The Worlds was mentioned several times. Hamilton was one of the grand masters of the Space Opera. The city was really influential on my game. 

Bascially a space time warp triggered by an atomic bomb hurls a small town into a far, far future. The town struggles to survive in this weird unknown era. Then they met a Galactic empire. 

What the hell does this have to do with 2001 and all of the other influences that get thrown into my games?
It goes like this. Any kid growing up in the late 60s to late 80s was space crazy. There was a recent post over at the tremendous Space 1970 blog about that Hyperspace carrier. That hyperspace carrier that haunts my dreams.  The Leif Erickson was the scrapped model for a George Pal show called War Worlds that never came to be. The design was used for this model.
Matt Jeffries was the designer of the Enterprise and many of the ships on the original Star Trek show.  Anyhow you can read all about the Leif Erickson right over Right over here at the Space 1970 blog

To me the The War of the Worlds pitch for the television show had a very Star Trek original show feel to it. You can see that right here. 

Part I 

Part II

Part III

Then there's that design for the Botany Bay still lurking out there also designed by Jefferies. The Trek fandom has for years stated that the Bay design was refitted with Warp drive and used for and is still being used for commercial work.

Notice this little nugget from the Leif Ericson Main > Submarines in Space section 

You probably noticed that the Leif Ericson has a "conning tower" much like that on a submarine (the technical term is a "sail"). Apparently Matt Jefferies liked conning towers, since he put one on the Botany Bay as well.

So what does this have to do with the ship the PCs got their hands on?
Well in fact its a ship from the Manhunter universe. The Phobeus Transport D63 Demeter Star freighter found on page 177 of the Manhunter Rifts rule book.
The design sounds very similar to this 

Paul Davies re-designs the Botany Bay with actual 1996 technology. Click on blueprint for larger version. Again from the Leif Ericson main page. 

What does this have to do with a War of The Worlds, Space 1999 and the original run of Star Trek?  Well  there has been some speculation among fans that perhaps there is an alternative 90s out in the multiverse where things went horribly, horribly, wrong, with the world. Could someone have messed around with time travel and created an alternative Trek timeline where the Federation didn't happen until much later?? Could this be a similar group of time travelers to the ones speculated about in this video about Prometheus?



Could this be a world that has been abandoned because of something that the Federation of Stars knows is lurking below the surface of the the planet Earth. A planet whose leaders were almost brought to their knees by Khan and his followers?  A world where time travel is known to be very dangerous and destructive. A universe where Earth almost became the Nightlands?
 I mentioned the Hamilton story for a reason. This novella has entire town hurled into a future where the Federation of Stars exists very similar to the Federation of Trek. It even has the aliens serving aboard the ship ala Trek as well. All of this could be used with Goblinoid's Star Ships and Spacemen second edition game with little problem.
It goes something like this : 

"The pleasant little American city of Middletown is the first target in an atomic war - but instead of blowing Middletown to smithereens, the super-hydrogen bomb blows it right off the map - to somewhere else! First there is the new thin coldness of the air, the blazing corona and dullness of the sun, the visibility of the stars in high daylight.  Then comes the inhabitant's terrifying discovery that Middletown is a twentieth-century oasis of paved streets and houses in a desolate brown world without trees, without water, apparently without life, in the unimaginably far-distant future.In one split second, a group of ordinary people was catapulted by a mysterious explosion across time into a terrifyingly strange world a million years away." 

You see Hamilton wasn't simply a master of Space Opera he was a part of the Lovecraft circle as well as the husband of Leigh Brackett. So perhaps their's more to the Mucloids showing up in this adventure after all. Maybe there's more then a few dungeons in the Talon system that have a bit of Time Travel equipment laying around in some megadungeon ruins. 

You can read up on Ed Hamilton right over Here 

 You can download City At the World's End legally and for free right over Here 

 So why the connection to Rifts Manhunter? Because the Manhunter universe is very simlar to Firefly and Outland. The Manhunter universe is a fun one but also very somber in some areas and feels like Disney's The Black hole. So perhaps this is an alternative timeline where Dr. Rhineheart had discovered some of the secrets of both time travel and anti-gravity. This was a world that reached for the stars and found the darkness between them instead. 

New Kickstarter - A Gallery Of Rogues

This sounds like an interesting and intriquing book for any old school OSR game. My buddy Jim Pinto is doing this one. Read on for some pretty cool sounding ideas. Kickstarter has been kicking OSR ass putting out some very interesting projects that might never see the light of day. This sounds really nice you can visit the kickstarter right over HERE

A Gallery of Rogues is a fantasy sourcebook of criminals and thieves working within a thieves guild that has been operating for years. The guild maintains a wide array of members, including at least one wizard and a few politicians — to keep things orderly and all that.

What makes this project unique, in addition to the levels the contributors can have within the guild itself, is that the size of the project actually grows. With each contribution (and with near-daily updates on where the project stands), the book may actually get bigger. The guild starts with 20 characters, but more members are added to the book, based on both milestones and contributor levels. Eventually, as many as 100 more characters can be added to the book.

100!

The Guild

The guild is more than just a collection of NPCs. It's a complex network of interlocking relationships. Each character has something to offer players, the other NPCs, and the gamemaster's campaign. With detailed histories, ambitions, goals, and relationships, A Gallery of Rogues is a rich tapestry of characters.

The Art

Eric Lofgren is a long-term figure in the gaming industry and all the artwork inside the book will be done in Eric's patented black and white style.

The Scope

The sourcebook also include a history and overview of the guild, including their spheres of influence in the fictional city it is set in. Each character in the book will have game information for old and new editions of the world's favorite fantasy RPG, including Pathfinder, but not 4th.

Revisiting Mayfair Games Undead - Review on The Dark Corner Blog

Reviewing this classic from Mayfair Games on the Dark Corner blog today. This is a personal favorite of mine. Very classic old school/horror feel to this one. Take a look right over Here

Rifts Manhunter rpg As Stars Without Number resource

Scored two items today in the local Thrift Store. The Rifts Manhunter is in nice shape  and the HG Wells War In the Air is great as well. But what concerns me is Rifts Manhunter. I've had the game book in the past and ordered it from an add in Dragon way back in 1994.
The add described the following: 

Rifts Manhunter is a dimension book that brings the Manhunter universe in contact with the Rifts universe. The 200-page book includes information on the Manhunters, their history and their models. The book also includes: 

- 20 new O.C.C.s including the Widowmakers, Cannibals, Smokers, Choirboys, Drivejocks, Bloodletters and Chrome Warriors 

- 11 new alien races, such as the Aglians, Kirn and the Ulars. 

- Information on the colonies, organizations and corporations in the Manhunter universe. 

- New weapons, equipment, vehicles and body armor.

The problem was that the game book was well broken in several places. The book setting is basically the new Battle Star Galactic meets the Federation with a weird background. Described as this: 

"The Manthunter RPG by Myrmidon Press was basically an RPG about bounty hunters in a lawless, dystopian sci-fi setting where known space is divided up between a pragmatic and bureaucratic federation of intelligent space faring races, a militant empire headed by a fairly typical example of the "honorable warrior race" sci-fi cliche, and a loose confederacy of corrupt and Machiavellian human colonies that refused to join up with the main federation when it formed a few centuries back. The Manhunters themselves are a robot army that went rogue and refused to stand down after the end of a war they were created for, and have since fled into unexplored space to build up their numbers so the can continue their mission to contain the human race"
The book clocks in at 178 pages and was originally its own game with some pretty nifty ideas in it.
 

 There were originally three editions of the game. The whole game has this weird quasi 70s grindhouse feel to the setting. " Multi-racial science fiction in a setting that covers a broad range of tech levels. The ATPDS (Aglio-Terran Planetary Defense System) attempts to make it's way in a universe of competing alien powers and vicious robots called Manhunters who seek to eradicate life." vibe echoes throughout the book. So it could reasonable be used for a Stars Without Numbers game with very little modification. The robots are really nasty. The "classes" could be used whole sale and the game these days isn't well known at all. 


Ten Reasons To Use Rifts Manhunter As A Stars Without Numbers Resource 

1. Each of the 
   1. 20 new O.C.C.s including the Widowmakers, Cannibals, Smokers, Choirboys, Drivejocks, Bloodletters and Chrome Warriors could all be used as inspiration for the three core classes for SWN 
2. 1. The game book is an antique but the setting is not and could be made to work as an alternative to the SWN campaign or as an add on 
3. 1. The book fits the SWN concepts better then it does Rifts by a long shot and the various alien races fit in neatly and with little fuss 
4. 1. The various weapons, mecha, ships, Manhunters are simple swap outs with the stats built right into SWN 
5. 1. The organizations, corporations and little background NPCs are a nice fit into the already existing SWN world. 
6. 1. There are several settings within the book including planets, a burned out Earth, and a nasty alien world that make excellent starting ground for a party of PC adventurers 
7. 1. The Manhunters are terminator style nasties always lurking in the background but the real treat of the system is the bounty hunting theme that threads its way through the book. There's lots of potential adventuring right there. 
8. 1. The book has a definite grey feel to its morality that you just don't get with many Rifts books. The PCs are the good or bad guys their just guys trying to get by. If this sounds a bit like Firefly then your doing it right 
9. 1. There's magic which is easily turned into psychic powers in the game book and plenty of backup
10. 1. The book has the coming of the planar rips errm rifts as an excuse to collide this setting with your favorite space opera. 

       1. 1. 

 The book is relatively cheap on Amazon and ebay going for 2.00 or less. Thanks To Green Skeleton Gaming Guild for the idea on this one.